Nilmar and an own goal are all the scoring in this match. I’ll be honest, I was under the weather today and waking up to watch this poor matchup was not high on the list of priorities. I’ll try and find the replay of the match to give you some ratings.

OMÃ 0 x 2 BRASIL

Al-Habsi; Mohammed Rabea, Al-Noafli (Suhail), Al-Ghailani e Al-Balushi; Hadeed, Basheer (Al-Nuaimi), Qasim Said e Al Ajmi (Al-Noobi); Emad Al Hosani (Abdulkarim) e Rabea Al-Hosani (Saleh)

Técnico: Claude Le Roy.

Júlio César, Maicon (Daniel Alves), Lúcio (Cris), Thiago Silva e Michel Bastos; Gilberto Silva , Felipe Melo (Fábio Simplício), Elano (Carlos Eduardo) e Kaká (Julio Baptista); Nilmar e Luis Fabiano (Hulk).

Técnico: Dunga.

Gols: Nilmar, aos três minutos do primeiro tempo. Al-Ghailani (contra), aos 16 da etapa final.

Estádio: Qaboos Sports Complex Stadium.

Data: 17/11/2009.

Árbitro: Erich Brahehmhaeer (HOL).

Even though the match was a friendly what we learned was that England is not as good as Brazil, period. As Fabio Capello put it, “Tonight I think we played the best team in the world.”

As I thought before the match, Glen Johnson was a pretty big loss for England coming into this match. I’m not sure he would have neutralized Nilmar, but clearly Wes Brown did not, and in fact that matchup downright embarrassing at times.

Nilmar, who is my man of the match, ran rampant on the English defense and was a creative spark all day. He put a beautiful header into the back of the net right after the break.

Luis Fabiano proved he is human by missing a penalty kick that was awarded after a Nilmar run into the box. Fabiano only misses that shot about once every hundred times so we can cut him some slack.

Later in the second half Lucio was about a half inch from adding a second goal on a strike from outside the box that hit inside the post.

Michel Bastos, who earned his first cap for the team, starting at his unnatural position of left back, was solid. I’ve seen some poor match ratings for him that I really didn’t understand. He was close to scoring, and made several outstanding runs. Defensively he got off to a shaky start, but overall I thought he looked promising.

When all was said and done, the better team won. Brazil was better in every facet of the match. Every English player was extremely limited all night, with James Milner being the exception. There were a lot of good things to take out of Saturday moving forward.

Player Ratings:

Julio Cesar, 6.5, Wasn’t called upon to do much.

Maicon, 6.5, Made a few good runs, was steady as always defensively

Lucio, 7.5, Was outstanding on both ends of the pitch, deserved a goal in the second half

Thiago Silva, 7, Shaky early in the match but grew more confident as time went on, shut down Wayne Rooney

Michel Bastos, 6.5, A good debut. Was very good offensively, and solid on defense.

Felipe Melo, 7, Was very solid. Him and Gilberto Silva disrupted the English attack and were major reasons for the ineffectiveness of their midfield.

Gilberto Silva,7, See above.

Elano, 6, I thought he was below average overall, despite playing a beautiful ball for the Nilmar goal. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ramires still starting when healthy.

Kaka, 6.5, Not his best match. However, England had no one who could match his pace.

Nilmar, 8, Made outstanding run after outstanding run. Robinho had better play immaculately once he’s healthy again.

Luis Fabiano, 6, Missed a PK that he needs to bury. Did a good job holding the ball up throughout the match.

BRASIL

Julio César, Maicon, Lúcio, Thiago Silva e Michel Bastos; Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo, Elano (Daniel Alves) e Kaká (Julio Baptista); Nilmar (Carlos Eduardo) e Luis Fabiano (Hulk).

Técnico: Dunga.

INGLATERRA

Foster, Brown, Upson, Lescott e Bridge; Milner (Young), Jenas, Wright Phillips (Crouch) e Barry (Huddlestone); Rooney e Bent (Defoe).

Técnico: Fabio Capello.

Gols: Nilmar, a 1 minuto do segundo tempo.

Estádio: Khalifa International.

Data: 14/11/2009.

Árbitro: Adbulrahman Abdou (Qatar).

I’ll have the full recap tonight on our well deserved win.

Brazil v. England
Khalifa International Stadium, Doha, Qatar
November 14, 2009, 12:00 ET
TV: Fox Soccer Channel, other links

First the injury report. Doni, Juan, Luisão, and Ramires are all injured coming into this match. Yesterday, AC Milan’s Thiago Silva earned a well deserved call-up to replace Luisão. As previously mentioned, Fábio Simplício replaced Ramires. Robinho and Julio Baptista are just coming back from injury and I am not expecting them to be part of the starting XI.

Saturday brings us the highly anticipated match against one of our biggest threats for 2010: England. As almost always with the Seleção, this match is being played outside of Brazil in Doha, Qatar so Nike can attempt to sell kits to the folks in all white pictured above. I am really hoping we get a good look at Michel Bastos, and some of the other newcomers to the team.

England manager Fabio Capello has called a very strong squad, but is without Steve Gerrard, who is battling fitness issues, and Rio Ferdinand, who has been in poor form lately. Liverpool right back Glen Johnson is also out with an injury.

England is a strong side no doubt about it. Wayne Rooney is a world class forward. Frank Lampard is as steady as they come in the midfield. Ashley Young and James Milner have become outstanding players, borderline stars.

I think the loss of Glen Johnson is a big one for them. If Wes Brown gets the likely start at right back he’s going to have a difficult time with whoever is playing left back for Brazil. On the other side of the pitch its the same story. I think Maicon could have a massive day against Wayne Bridge. Long story short, I’m anticipating our wing backs to be very influential in this outcome of this match.

Another thing England will need to prove is their ability to deal with the Brazilian counter attack. I don’t believe England is going to have the pace to successfully neutralize it.

Brazil:

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Doni (AS Roma)

Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Fabio Aurelio (Liverpool), Michel Bastos (Olympique Lyon), Lucio (Inter Milan), Thiago Silva (AC Milan), Juan (AS Roma), Naldo (Werder Bremen)

Update 11/12: Fabio Aurelio is now out with a muscle injury, but Doni is now fit.
Update 11/13: Dunga has added Cris, a defender for Lyon to the team today.

Midfielders: Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Elano (Galatasaray), Julio Baptista (AS Roma), Felipe Melo (Juventus), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg), Lucas (Liverpool), Fábio Simplício (Palermo), Alex (CSKA Moscow), Kaka (Real Madrid)

Forwards: Robinho (Manchester City), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Villarreal), Hulk (Porto), Carlos Eduardo (Hoffenheim).

England:

Goalkeepers: Ben Foster, Robert Green, Joe Hart

Defenders: Wayne Bridge, Wes Brown, Gary Cahill, Glen Johnson, Joleon Lescott, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock

Midfielders: Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Tom Huddlestone, Jermaine Jenas, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Ashley Young

Forwards: Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney

Update 11/12: According to ESPN, Frank Lampard is out with a thigh injury he picked up today in training.

Prediction: Brazil 2 – England 1

Goalkeepers
Ben Foster, Robert Green, Joe Hart.

Defenders
Wayne Bridge, Wes Brown, Gary Cahill, Glen Johnson, Joleon Lescott, John Terry, Matthew Upson, Stephen Warnock.

Midfielders
Gareth Barry, Michael Carrick, Tom Huddlestone, Jermaine Jenas, Frank Lampard, James Milner, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Ashley Young.

Forwards
Darren Bent, Peter Crouch, Jermain Defoe, Wayne Rooney.

Sorry for the lack of posts the past week, it’s been busy. There has been a Ronaldinho sighting the past few weeks, and with it a resurgent AC Milan. Before we start calling for his return to the national team let’s see this form last awhile longer.

The U-17 team had a terrible performance at the World Cup. They have been complaining about the amount of yellow cards they received as the reason for their group stage exit, which is a sorry excuse. Bruno has an excellent piece on what happened that I highly recommend.

Doni (Roma)

Maicon (Internazionale)

Daniel Alves (Barcelona)

Luisão (Benfica)

Lúcio (Internazionale)

Juan (Roma)

Naldo (Werder Bremen)

Fábio Aurélio (Liverpool)

Michel Bastos (Lyon)

Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos)

Josué (Wolfsburg)

Lucas (Liverpool)

Felipe Melo (Juventus)

Alex (Spartak Moscou)

Julio Baptista (Roma)

Ramires (Benfica)

Elano (Galatasaray)

Kaká (Real Madrid)

Carlos Eduardo (Hoffenheim)

Robinho (Manchester City)

Luís Fabiano (Sevilla)

Nilmar (Villareal)

Hulk (Porto)

Dani Alves is set to be sidelined for around three weeks due to a thigh injury picked up yesterday, Barcelona have announced.

Felipe Melo was forced to leave the pitch having sustained an ankle injury, and will be evaluated on Friday. It doesn’t appear at that this injury will force him to miss an extended amount of time.

Robinho is going to be out of another two weeks after he suffered a setback in his return from a stress fracture.

Hulk and Pato enjoyed big days in their respective Champions League draws yesterday. Pato hurt Marcelo’s case to rejoin the national team, catching him completely asleep on two occasions. Here’s to hoping Pato takes Robinho’s place for the England friendly. What a sensational game he had yesterday!

The Under 17 World Cup for Brazil starts on Saturday. They open up against Japan. All the matches can be watched on ESPN360.com. This team is loaded, more than the U20 side for sure, so be sure to watch them.

Well that’s it for qualification. It was not an emphatic end to the campaign, but not a bad one either. These last two matches saw many non-regulars get a look. I think sometimes we forgot what a grueling endurance test South American qualification really can be. To finish first in the standing after this marathon is an accomplishment for any nation.

What did we learn last night and basically the last two years? As jzlim pointed out, Kaka and Luis Fabiano are what make this team click. The World Cup goes through them next summer. The attack is dramatically more fluid and organized with these two in the lineup. Both men were inches and seconds away from scoring on multiple occasions on Wednesday.

So who are the logical replacements for the two if something were to happen? The last two matches taught us that Diego Souza and Adriano are certainly not. The obvious answer in the case of Kaka would be Diego. The time undoubtedly has come for his return to the national team. He struggled playing out of position in his last go around with the team. However, put him in Kaka’s spot and I think we have a capable replacement.

At forward it’s a bit of a different story. Pato has struggled this season, playing at a club with a poor midfield. Regardless, he is too small to replace Luis Fabiano. He is better suited for playing Robinho’s spot. We have eight months to find another another physical forward who can bring down and hold the ball. Adriano’s laziness returned this week, and I remain highly skeptical he is adequate on the bench.

The new faces in the lineup on Wednesday were strong. Filipe was much more assertive than Andre Santos. I thought he added a dimension to the offense that is lacking otherwise from the left back spot. Lucas was playing a solid match, until Miranda (who again has no business on the team) received a straight red card when he inadvertently punched a Venezuelan forward. When Brazil went to ten men Lucas kind of disappeared. Before this incident, his defense capabilities in the midfield allowed Gilberto Silva to be a little more assertive on both ends of the pitch. I thought Gilberto Silva had a very fine match, one of his better performances recently.

What’s clear after the past two years of qualifying is that Brazil is very capable of winning the sixth. However, this is still a work in progress. I think the team can only get better when you consider who else can be called up. Guys like Alex (Chelsea), Naldo, Denilson, Hulk, etc. are all waiting in the wings.

Remember the U20 team plays in the World Cup final tomorrow. It can be watched on ESPN360.com. I will be in Madison, Wisconsin this weekend so if someone could post the You Tube highlights from the final on the comment board it would be appreciated. I will have a recap of that tournament after the weekend.

Player Ratings

Julio Cesar, 7, Rebounded from his poor showing in La Paz with a couple of key saves.

Filipe, 7, Better than Andre Santos and deserves a continued look.

Miranda, 4, Stupid red card, he would miss the first World Cup match as a result, hopefully he will not have to serve that suspension because he won’t be on the roster.

Luisao, 7, He was stronger in this match, and more adventuresome in the attack.

Maicon, 7, Same as Luisao, better overall.

Lucas, 6.5, His rating takes a hit for his dip in form after the Miranda red card.

Gilberto Silva, 7.5, Solid on both ends, inches away from scoring on a header.

Ramires, 6.5, He did a ton of running, very active, but still missing that touch.

Kaka, 7, He was subpar by Kaka standards, but still makes a world of difference when on the pitch.

Luis Fabiano, 7.5, A threat literally every time he touched the ball. You just know he is going to have a massive World Cup.

BRASIL 0 X 0 VENEZUELA

Julio César, Maicon, Luisão, Miranda e Filipe Luís (Alex); Gilberto Silva, Lucas, Ramires (Elano) e Kaká; Nilmar e Luis Fabiano (Diego Tardelli).

Técnico: Dunga.

Vega, Chacon, Vizcarrondo, Rey e Granados; Di Giorgi, Rincón (Seijas), Lucena e Arango (Fedor); Moreno (Rondon) e Maldonado.

Técnico: César Farias.

Cartões amarelos: Luis Fabiano, Luisão (Brasil); Chacon, Vizcarrondo, Di Giorgi, Granados (Venezuela).

Cartão vermelho: Miranda (Brasil).

Estádio: Morenão.

Data: 14/10/2009.

Árbitro: Victor Carrillo (PER).

Auxiliares: César Escano (PER) e Luis Abaddie (PER).

Renda: 2.562.925,00.

Público: 23.746 pagantes.

Brazil really deserved three points from this match but it wasn’t in the cards. We got a good look at Lucas and Filipe tonight. I thought both were solid. However, Kaka had a sub par match. Regardless, I don’t mind this result. The team played well in a match that did not matter much. I’ll have the full recap tomorrow.